The Sordid Saga Of Clickout

The Sordid Saga Of Clickout

From Aftermath Hours by Aftermath

March 6, 2026 · 1h 20m · Episode 105

About this episode

The episode discusses Clickout's acquisition of video game websites and the implications of its secretive practices with guest Jack Ryan.

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by Jack Ryan – the investigative journalist, as opposed to the Tom Clancy character – to discuss his months-in-the-making report on Clickout, a secretive company that has taken to buying up once-revered video game websites like The Escapist and filling them with AI and gambling. Why is Clickout so secretive? How is it getting away with this? Why target video game websites, specifically? What does a company get out of burying them in borderline-incoherent garbage? And what goes into reporting out this kind of story when a company has proven more than willing to bare its legal fangs at others in the past? We answer all those questions and more — and then we choose which video game characters we’d like to preside over us in court, should it come to that. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, and special guest Jack Ryan - Podcast Production & Ads:  Multitude - Subscribe to  Aftermath ! About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at…

People in this episode

Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett

Guest: Jack Ryan

Topics covered

  • investigative journalism
  • video game websites
  • AI and gambling
  • Clickout company
  • reporting challenges
  • video game characters

Keywords

  • Clickout
  • video game websites
  • investigative journalism
  • AI
  • gambling
  • Jack Ryan
  • Nathan Grayson
  • Luke Plunkett

Sponsors

Multitude

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Clickout, The Escapist, Aftermath, Kotaku, Vice, The Washington Post

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